© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Chandigarh district court has sentenced a murder convict to three months’ imprisonment for jumping the 28-day parole granted to him, saying he had “abused the concession…”.
Inderjit Singh, alias Lally, had been convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering a man in Chandigarh in 2001. As per the complaint of the deputy superintendent of police, Model Jail, Chandigarh, Lally was granted 28-day parole on July 19, 2024. He was scheduled to surrender on August 17, 2024. However, he absconded.
Subsequently, an FIR under sections 8 and 9 of The Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners Temporary Release Act, 1962, was lodged at the Sector 36 police station in Chandigarh. While Singh could not be traced initially, during the investigation, he was taken on production warrant from Central Jail, Ambala.
A chargesheet was filed against the accused under sections 8 and 9 of The Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners Temporary Release Act, 1962, but the accused opted not to lead any defence evidence.
The court, on perusing the documents produced in the case, found that the present case does not fall within Section 8(3) of the Act as the prisoner/accused had never surrendered and was taken on production warrant by the investigating officer and then sent to undergo the remaining portion of his sentence. Therefore, no case of Section 8 of The Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners Temporary Release Act, 1962, is made out for conviction, the court said.
The court observed that the conviction of the accused person has been proven right as he had miserably failed to produce any sufficient excuse for his non-return before 5 pm on August 17, 2024.
The court found that the prosecution failed to prove the charges under Section 8 of the Act against the accused person beyond a reasonable doubt. However, it succeeded in proving the charges under Section 9 of the 1962 Act and Singh was thus convicted under the same section.
While pronouncing the quantum of sentence, the court remarked: “The convict had abused the concession of parole. However, he was taken into custody in the present case on a production warrant on June 10, 2025. It clearly shows that on the date of arrest, he was already in judicial custody at Central Jail, Ambala, which per se shows that he was prevented from surrendering before Jail Superintendent, Chandigarh, but no evidence in this regard as to from how much time he was in judicial custody of other case at other jurisdiction has not been given.”
“But this court cannot be a mute spectator so as to ensure justice in favour of the convict, specially when the present offence was a bailable offence and the accused person had neither been released on bail nor prayed for grant of bail, thereby being in continuous custody since June 10, 2025 till date… he cannot be only sentenced to fine as the offence is of grave nature and tends to violate societal piece. Moreover, it also maligns the sanctity of the concession of parole, which is generally given as a reformatory measure…,” the court further held.
Therefore, the court sentenced Singh to undergo simple imprisonment for three months for offences under Section 9 of the Punjab Good Conduct Prisoners Temporary Release Act, 1962, without any fine.
